Generally, a cyclone dust separating apparatus causes an air stream to whirl inside a cyclone chamber thereof, and uses the centrifugal force generated from the whirling air to separate dust from the drawn-in air. A vacuum cleaner with a typical example of the aforementioned cyclone dust separating apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,425,192 and 4,373,228, 3,425,192 and 4,373,228 disclose a cyclone dust collecting apparatus that separates and collects dust from the drawn-in air through the use of a plurality of cyclones. In the disclosed system, relatively large particles of dust are separated from air drawn-in the first cyclone. The once-filtered air-stream flows into the second cyclones or supplementary cyclones, where small particles of dust are separated from air. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,192 discloses a cyclone system in which the supplementary cyclone is arranged at the upper portion of the first cyclone such that relatively large particles of dust are separated in the main cyclone, while partially cleaned air flows into the supplementary cyclone and is further cleaned. U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,228 discloses a cyclone system with a plurality of cyclone units. The cyclone system of U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,228 includes the supplementary cyclone inside the first cyclone. The conventional cyclone separating apparatuses as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,425,192 and 4,373,228 however, have numerous problems.
First, due to a rather complicated structure for connecting the first cyclone with the supplementary cyclone, a suction force generated at the main body of the vacuum cleaner may not be smoothly delivered, and as a result, cleaning efficiency deteriorates. Secondly, due to a bulky first cyclone and supplementary cyclone structure, the size of the cyclone separating apparatus using that system increases to maintain the same quality dust collecting performance. As the cyclone separating apparatus becomes bulky, the vacuum cleaner employing the cyclone separating apparatus also becomes bulky, and as a result, it is quite cumbersome for the user to keep or carry the vacuum cleaner. Thirdly, because the linking passage between the first cyclone and the supplementary cyclone is complex, which requires a large number of parts, the unit price increases.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.